UFC 165's Alex Caceres on MMA career: 'I don't want to do it for that long'

Even though he’s just 25 years old, UFC bantamweight Alex Caceres is already thinking about his MMA exit.

Five years and 14 fights into his professional career, Caceres doesn’t want to be a fighter who overstays his welcome, and that’s why he already knows when he wants to get out.

“I don’t want to do it for that long,” Caceres told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “Once I hit a certain age, I just don’t want to do this anymore. Fighting is very nice, but then again, from the beginning, I am a martial artist, and I’ll do that my whole life. But fighting is something that I’m doing in the time being. … I think the age of 30 is a good age to call it quits.”

While Caceres has no problem looking ahead and planning his future, his main focus currently is to become as successful as possible by earning impressive victories and moving up the 135-pound rankings.

“Bruce Leeroy” claims he’s not driven by typical goals such as earning a world championship, and instead, he just wants to discover his ceiling as a combat martial artist before hanging up the gloves.

“My only goal [before retiring] is not necessarily being a champion – even though that might come with the goal I have in mind,” he said. (It’s) just to be as good as I can possibly be in the sport. I just want to find my limitations.”

Caceres (8-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) will discover his current limitations on Saturday when he meets Canadian Roland Delorme (9-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) on the FOX Sports 1 preliminary-card portion of the UFC 165 pay-per-view card in Toronto.

The matchup is Caceres’ first since receiving a six-month suspension for a positive marijuana test following a UFC on FUEL TV 8 bout with Kyung Ho Kang in March. While Caceres admits to the mistake that caused the failed drug test, he’s adamant that he used the time off in a positive way.

“I was suspended, and I’ve been training ever since, so I can look at it both ways,” Caceres said. “I can look at it I’ve been out of the cage for six months. I can also look at it (like) I’ve had six months to prepare for this opponent instead of a regular two or one month.”

Caceres says preparation for his eighth UFC bout has been the best yet after spending the majority of his training camp at The MMA Lab in Arizona alongside former UFC lightweight titleholder Benson Henderson. Delorme brings a very dangerous submission arsenal to the cage every time he competes, which means Caceres had to prepare efficiently for the possibility of dealing with a grappling-heavy affair.

“I’ve been training a lot in Arizona with Ben Henderson, working a lot on my ground game,” Caceres said. “I know Roland is a very tough judo and jiu-jitsu fighter, so I’ve definitely been preparing for a good grappling match.”

While UFC 165 marks another fight in Caceres’ UFC career, it also marks one day closer to his inevitable retirement date. And while some fighters are lulled into staying in the sport longer than they should, Caceres is thinking about what’s most important: his long-term future.

“Honestly I believe this is for young people,” he said. “I don’t want to be old and not be able to play with my kids.”

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